Background: Fishing in distant waters for months may induce physiological stress. Aims: To assess the physiological stress reactions in fishermen working for 2-3 months continuously in 6-h shifts on trawlers in the Barents Sea. Methods: The crew of five trawlers fishing in the Barents Sea from January to April 2004 were invited to participate. In the week before and 5-7 days after the trip, the following measures were collected: salivary cortisol four times a day, 24-h urinary cortisol, blood pressure, heart rate, serum cholesterol, serum high-density lipoprotein (HDL-cholesterol), HbA1c (glycosylated haemoglobin) and weight...

Parent carers of children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) often report increased levels of stress, depression, and anxiety. Unmet parent carer mental health needs pose a significant risk to the psychological, physical, and social well-being of the parents of the child affected by ASD and jeopardize the adaptive functioning of the family as well as the potential of the child affected by ASD. This systematic review identifies key qualities of interventions supporting the mental health of parent carers and proposes practitioner-parent carer support guidelines...

AIM: Many, varied, antenatal risk factors can adversely impact children's health, behaviour and cognition. Understanding the antenatal risk factors experienced by women can help identify which families are most likely to benefit from additional early supports; however, there is a dearth of published Australian antenatal risk data. This study aimed to determine the prevalence and co-occurrence of a broad range of risk factors in a community-based sample of pregnant Australian women. METHODS: A brief risk factor survey (10 items, including age, social support, health, smoking, stress or anxious mood, education, household income, employment) completed by pregnant women attending the antenatal clinic waiting rooms of 10 public maternity hospitals, which were selected for their provision of care to areas with fewer socio-economic resources in the states of Victoria and Tasmania, between May 2013 and August 2014...

Zic family proteins have been investigated in various biomedical studies. Here we summarize the contact points between Zic proteins and recent medical research. The topics cover a wide range, reflecting the pleiotropic roles of these proteins in early embryogenesis and organogenesis. Zic1, Zic2, and Zic3 proteins play important roles in the development of axial and limb bones, and of muscles, among the derivatives of the notochord and somites. Zic1 is involved in bone's response to mechanical stress, and it also serves as a marker specific for brown adipocytes...

Background: Fear of crime is a growing social and public health problem globally, including in developed countries such as Sweden. This study investigated the impact of fear of crime on self-reported health and stress among men living in Gävleborg County. Design and Methods: The study used data collected from 2993 men through a cross sectional survey in the 2014 Health in Equal Terms survey. Descriptive and logistic regression analyses were carried out to study the relationship between fear of crime and self-reported health and stress...

Aim: Home-based nursing care is relatively easy to access in Norway compared to the rest of Europe, and the threshold for applying for assistance is relatively low. The aim of the present study was to analyze factors that enable frail older adults to live in their own homes, with a low level of care burden stress. Methodology: In 2015 and 2016, eight municipalities from different parts of Norway participated in a cross-sectional study. The quantitative part of the project consisted of assessing care of 71 older adults, aged ≥80 years, using a geriatric comprehensive assessment...

Purpose: The diagnosis of cancer and its treatment can make patients psychologically distressed. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the level of psychological distress and social functioning in cancer patients and to assess the association of these parameters with the quality of life (QOL) experienced by the patient. Patients and Methods: All cancer patients attending palliative care clinic who can understand and speak English or Tamil language were taken into the study...

Global supply chains play a critical role in many of the most pressing environmental stresses and social struggles identified by the United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Responding to calls from the global community, companies are adopting a variety of voluntary practices to improve the environmental and/or social management of their suppliers' activities. We develop a global survey of 449 publicly listed companies in the food, textile, and wood-products sectors with annual reports in English to provide insight into how the private sector contributes to advancing the SDGs via such sustainable-sourcing practices...

BACKGROUND: Teenage mothers are at increased risk for adverse social outcomes and short-term health problems, but long-term impacts on mental health are poorly understood. The aims of our systematic review were to determine the association between teenage pregnancy and mental health beyond the postpartum period, critically appraise the literature's quality and guide future research. METHODS: We systematically searched MEDLINE, Embase, PsycINFO, CINAHL, Scopus and Web of Science from inception to June 2017 for peer-reviewed articles written in English or French...

INTRODUCTION: There is a need to reduce physical inactivity and poor sleep health in the adult population to decrease chronic disease rates and the associated burden. Given the high prevalence of these risk behaviours, effective interventions with potential for wide reach are warranted. METHODS AND ANALYSIS: The aim of this two-arm RCT will be to test the effect of a three month personalised mobile app intervention on two main outcomes: minutes of moderate-to-vigorous-intensity physical activity and overall sleep quality...

It has been shown that early life traumatic events strongly alter the physiology and behavior in adult rats. In the present study, the effect of postnatal stressor on the spontaneous behavior of adult male rats was evaluated. A method of positive habituation based on a detailed analysis of behavioral patterns and attention of animals to a stimulus object was used. Twenty-four dams and twenty-four of their male progeny were used. Pups were divided into three groups (n = 8): controls (C); maternal social stressor (S); maternal social and physical stressors (SW)...

Smith and colleagues developed the Brief Resilience Scale (BRS) to assess the individual ability to recover from stress despite significant adversity. This study aimed to validate the German version of the BRS. We used data from a population-based (sample 1: n = 1.481) and a representative (sample 2: n = 1.128) sample of participants from the German general population (age ≥ 18) to assess reliability and validity. Confirmatory factor analyses (CFA) were conducted to compare one- and two-factorial models from previous studies with a method-factor model which especially accounts for the wording of the items...

Nearly half of US adults endorse insomnia symptoms. Sleep problems increase risk for depression during stress, but the mechanisms are unclear. During high stress, individuals having difficulty falling or staying asleep may be vulnerable to cognitive intrusions after stressful events, given that the inability to sleep creates a period of unstructured and socially isolated time in bed. We investigated the unique and combined effects of insomnia symptoms and stress-induced cognitive intrusions on risk for incident depression...

INTRODUCTION: Successful competitive employment has been found to be related to enhanced self-esteem, higher quality of life and reduced mental health service use for individuals living with serious mental illnesses (SMIs) including schizophrenia, bipolar disorder and major depression. The effectiveness of the individual placement and support model has been demonstrated in multiple randomised controlled trials in many countries. The management of stress, depression and anxiety in the workplace may be effectively enhanced through digital mental health interventions...

BACKGROUND: University students experience high rates of stress and mental illness; however, few studies have comprehensively examined the impact of academic and non-academic stressors on student mental health. Similarly, there has been little focus on the role of social groups in protecting against mental distress in this young adult group. AIM: To identify the key social determinants of mental health symptoms in a student population. METHODS: Using an online survey, we administered measures of social connectedness and mental health symptoms alongside academic and non-academic stressors to a large sample of UK university students...

Severe burn injuries are highly traumatic requiring lengthy recovery. High levels of distress in the early stages of treatment have been associated with poor physical and psychosocial recovery outcomes. Identifying traits relating to distress and personal coping styles may aid screening. Type-D, or 'distressed', personality may be such a trait. Type-D personality refers to an ongoing personality organization defined by a tendency to experience greater negative emotions and thoughts while simultaneously socially inhibiting their expression (Denollet et al...

This article provides a preliminary evaluation of a campus sleep health program for undergraduate university students. In this study, 5 focus groups with 38 undergraduates assessed perceptions about sleep in relationship to college experiences. Additionally, 35 undergraduate students participated in campus sleep improvement workshops, and completed a brief self-report survey before and after the workshop. Results showed five themes emerged from focus groups: (a) Sleep and its impact on academics, (b) Understanding of the importance of sleep, (c) Procrastination and its impact on sleep, (d) Stress, and (e) Sleep and extracurricular/social activities...

OBJECTIVE: The challenging and stressful nature of emergency medicine place the practitioners of this young branch of medicine at risk of burnout. In Iran, the number of women choosing the specialty of emergency medicine has been increasing in recent years. No studies have focused on burnout among female emergency medicine physicians. We conducted this study to evaluate the level of burnout in female emergency medicine physicians in Iran. METHODS: In this cross-sectional study, all Iranian female emergency medicine physicians with more than 2 years of work experience as specialists, received a questionnaire containing 22-item Maslach Burnout Inventory scales and 7-item Cassidy social support scale, as well as questions about workload and career satisfaction...

BACKGROUND: To date no studies have explored the effectiveness of written cognitive-behavioural therapy (CBT) resources for low mood and stress delivered via a course of self-help classes in a community setting. Aims To assess the effectiveness of an 8-week community-based CBT self-help group classes on symptoms of depression, anxiety and social function at 6 months (trial registration: ISRCTN86292664). METHOD: In total, 142 participants were randomly allocated to immediate (n = 71) or delayed access to a low-intensity CBT intervention (n = 71)...